The present invention relates to dental syringes, and more particularly to a dental syringe adapted to permit its tip to be quickly inserted and withdrawn from its head.
Dental syringes are widely used by dentists, dental hygenists, dental assistants and the like. They are hand-held instruments which deliver water and air under pressure into a patient's mouth for washing and drying purposes. One such dental syringe is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,698,088. It includes a head which is coupled to supply hoses and an elongate tip which is coupled to the head and is inserted into the patient's mouth. The hoses supply water at about 40 PSI and air at about 80 PSI. Valves in the head are selectively hand operated to discharge water or air through the distal end of the tip.
Cross contamination is one of the principal problems encountered with dental syringes. Bacteria and viruses can be communicated from patient to patient unless the syringe tip is adequately sanitized. The safest and most desirable approach is to remove the syringe tip from the head and autoclave it after each patient treatment. In addition, it is desirable to be able to replace worn tips or change to tips of different configurations quickly and easily.
However, the tips of dental syringes heretofore known have not been readily removable from the syringe heads. Frequently such removal has necessitated the unscrewing of a coupling from the head and the sliding of the coupling off of the tip which has made it necessary for the coupling to be autoclaved also. The tip and coupling usually have a number of small elastomeric O-rings which must be removed before autoclaving because they cannot endure heat and pressure without being damaged. The removal and replacement of these small O-rings has been a time consuming, exasperating experience.
Therefore, it is desirable to have a dental syringe adapted to permit its tip to be quickly inserted and withdrawn from its head. However, when the tip is inserted it must be firmly held, so as not to become accidentally disengaged.